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Chapter 2

Creeper

Three days and three nights, HT/FR Knight walked the city streets of San Diego, wondering what to do about not getting onto the Acadia Navy ship. He noticed the creeper following him on the second day. It was a naval admiral in a Lincoln town car, a gray and white town car. The license plate was printed DIA 5. On the second day of this same admiral and DIA 5 Lincoln town car, HT/FR Knight stopped pretending he did not notice the admiral following him. HT/FR Knight wondered why the Defense Intelligence Agency was now following him. Apparently, there was a reason for that. But what it was, he was not sure.

HT/FR Knight decided to approach the admiral in the town car, a 1988 town car, to see what the problem was. The admiral just sped away down the street and went around the corner. HT/FR Knight went to a twenty-four-hour diner and ordered a cheeseburger and fries with a Pepsi. HT/FR Knight noticed there were a bunch of marines in the diner. Obviously, it was lunchtime for the marines as well. There were two main tables and booths along the diner wall in the diner. Both the main tables had about twenty marines each, and they were watching HT/FR Knight pretty closely—he noticed. HT/FR Knight just acted like he was glancing around the diner every once in a while, trying to act normal and not looked paranoid. And every time he looked up from his cheeseburger, the marines were looking at him. Dressed in his white navy dress uniform, HT/FR Knight pretended not to care or notice the marines staring at him.

After five minutes of this, the admiral from the DIA car walked in and sat at a booth by the front windows of the diner. He ordered a soda and sat there, watching HT/FR Knight as well.

HT/FR Knight thought to himself, This is some wickedly strange behavior. HT/FR Knight finished his cheeseburger and fries and asked the waitress for the bill. The waitress told him that the admiral already paid for his meal, and there was no charge. He gave the waitress a twenty-dollar tip and thanked her. HT/FR Knight got up from the table and went to the bathroom and washed his hands. When he looked up in the mirror from washing his hands, he saw five marine gunnery sergeants behind him in the bathroom. They were staring at him from behind him, blocking the exit door to the bathroom. HT/FR Knight pretended this did not bother him and used the paper towel dispenser and dried his hands. HT/FR knight threw the paper towels away in the garbage can and stepped toward the marines.

He said, “Excuse me, Gunny, just passing through.”

The marine gunnery sergeants spread slightly to let him pass, and the fifth gunny opened the door for HT/FR Knight to leave the bathroom.

The gunny holding the door said, “Have a nice day, sir, and thank you for your service to our country.”

HT/FR Knight walked out of the bathroom and was walking out of the diner when the admiral sitting by the front said, “Hello, son.”

HT/FR Knight saluted the admiral commanding officer a four star and said, “Thank you for lunch, sir.”

The admiral smiled and said, “Think nothing of it, son. Thank you for serving our beautiful country. Have a nice day.”

HT/FR Knight saluted the admiral and thanked him again and walked out of the diner. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the diner, HT/FR Knight had the feeling of being watched. He turned slightly to his left, and in his peripheral view, he saw all forty marines standing by the admiral, staring out the front window at him. HT/FR Knight turned left and walked down the street to the train station and went to Tijuana, Mexico, on the express train.

The marines asked the admiral, “Is that our boy, sir?”

The admiral replied, “Yes, that is without any doubt Star Gazer.”

The marine gunnery sergeant asked the admiral, “Where the hell has he been for the past nine and half years, sir?”

The admiral replied, “We have no idea, Gunny. He has been gone for nine and a half years, and nobody knows where he has been or what he has been doing or for who.”

The marine gunnery sergeant asked the admiral, “Now what do we do, sir?”

The admiral replied to the marine gunny, “Pull him in, in Mexico. And quietly bring him to the United States consulate. I’d like a word with him, and do it quietly, Gunny.”

The marines and the admiral left for the United States consulate in Tijuana, Mexico. They arrived forty-five minutes later after crossing the San Diego-Mexico border and waited in the consulate for ghost recon marines to bring Star Gazer in.